Writer: Florey DM

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Watch this if you liked: “The Conjuring”, “Annabelle”

The Good, the Bad and Poltergeist:

The ghosts are less gory and witchy in this sequel but they are by no means less scary.

Director James Wan proves once again that a little psychological horror can go a long way.

Based on yet another of the Warrens' prominent cases of haunting, only this time taking place across the pond (from the first movie), the movie also connects back to their most well-known case, the Amityville Horror, bringing in a concoction of horror to instil the utmost fear in the audiences.

"The Conjuring 2" opens with the famous Amityville haunting, ushering the audiences straight into the horror they're about to endure for the next two hours plus (yes, it's very long for a horror movie, more on this later). Though, it does give audiences the chance to breathe easy for a while as the story shifts to England, introducing them to the family who will soon be terrorised by a poltergeist.

Once the poltergeist plot kicks in, however, no one in the audience will be able sit calm. The haunting progresses fast, building up the tension and pressure till everyone's chest feels tight. To calm the audiences down in between the horror scenes, Wan slips in a doting moment or two between protagonists Ed and Lorraine Warren, humanising them, showing the world that they are just as vulnerable as anyone else but they do what they do for the sake of helping others (since most real-life accounts would contradict this, a point also highlighted in the earlier part of the movie).

Lead cast Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson no doubt play their parts perfectly, so does Madison Wolfe as the possessed Janet, and Frances O'Connor as the harried mother who tries to protect and save her daughter despite everyone's sceptical view on the haunting.

As is Wan's trademark, the movie doesn't rely on jump scares to spook its audiences. No "it's-just-a-cat, no-ghosts-here" cop out. The ghosts appear when they need to appear and interacts with the subject they mean to terrorise, as oppose to how most movie ghosts tend to just sway in the background before quietly slipping away as if they've decided at the last minute that they had something else better to do than to haunt innocent souls.

Circling back to the movie's long runtime, maybe it could've benefited better from a shorter runtime as things start to seem repetitive and by the time the third act kicks in, the story already feels a little stretched, giving the ending quite an anti-climactic, drawn out feel.

But all in all, this is a must watch for fans of psychological horror and judging from how things end, there is a possibility for more "The Conjuring" follow-ups.


Trivia:

• The actual recording of Ed Warren talking to Janet can be heard after the first set of credits.

• The real-life haunting is now believed to be a hoax.

Cinema Online, 09 June 2016